mni tx , sacada and surveyman -  

that tutorial explains the "traditional" duplication method, step by step, that's all right.
But that gives us overlapping instances, from one object's ecosystem to the next,
and obliges to duplicate the base object.

As long as it were a simple sphere, that would be ok,
but when we use real heavy meshes, such duplication can be "costly". :blushing:

Has anybody got ideas how to do that, without duplicating the original object ?   

Has someone got experiences with mixed materials, consisting of more than two eco-systems,
turning the base object,
turning the material's co-ordinates, and the object
    (coordinate systems of objects and textures allas are Not identic, not even similar !)
swapping those sub-texture ecosystems,
and re-populate those, one after another ?
:unsure:
I arrived to populate upside and downside differently, that way,
using one sole object,
using a material consisting of two ecosystems only -   :biggrin:

but I got lost with the textures' coordinate system : 
It "sticks" to the object's original orientation, when that object was created or imported,
and Y-X-Z turning angles of the materials got "right-hand turned Z->Y" cartesian orientation, whereas the object itself got "left-hand straight" orientation
(Last time I drowned into that, I used Vue5Inf. I didn't yet check down that in Vue6Inf,
but on first glance, that inside inconsistency of logic still is there) .   :ohmy:

For to avoid that Vue problem,
in my modelers, I note down the orientation of each "biased" part,
turn them parallel to a main axis,
import that into Vue,
give them an object-oriented texture,
then rotate them back to their original position.
Otherwise I need family packs of aspirine, gallons of coffee, 
and barrels of good old french wine...
oups...

The face we view in material preview, in most cases ain't the "good" one -
ours, when using coordinate functions, most often is on the right side of the cube, which is in the shadow :-(
So I got to make a cube or cylindre on my scene, to test and view the textures, using partial render,
or make a special scene with parts of my scene, just to tweak materials. That takes muuuch time... :-(

I told e-on about that coordinates inconsistency, two years ago already.
They answered, that their appoved mathematicians had made that thing,
so definitely, it were ok    :huh:

Well, long ago, I did some mathematics (spe3, stats3) at university, 
and told some descriptive and analytical geometrics, and basic dynamics, too,,
hereover, to masters students,   :closedeyes:

so please permit me to state, that Vue's co-ordinate systems ain't co-herent,  
:b_sad:
especially the textures' system and it's sense of rotation,
they do not conform to good ol' Descartes principles, who defined "cartesian" system.
(may he rest in peace),  s'cuse me. 

So, if a person here got experience with such mixed ecosystems,
and how to rotate those sub-textures with ecosystems, inside,
to hav'em re-populate about correctly,
(+/- 30°, 330°, 60°, 300°, 90°, 270°, 240°, 210°, 180° 150°, 120°, +/- or so (???),
and in which order x-y-z, pitch-yaw-roll)
I'd be happy if he/she would tell us, here,
or give us hints.    
:b_smile:

That would certainly help many people, here.

Thanks all,
Your's sincerely
Gerhard